The New England Aquarium’s Tony LaCasse said the whale is currently pinned against a slate wall on a steep slope and the surf is holding it in place. LaCasse said chances of performing a necropsy are diminishing as the whale decomposes.

Officials on a police boat were not able to get close enough to the whale to examine it Tuesday afternoon.

LaCasse says there is a chance the wind could change and the whale may float away.

Boston’s Rainsford Island is a small, uninhabited island off the coast of Hull. It is up to the city if they want to bury the whale or let it decompose on its own.

Scientists said the finback is the world’s second longest whale. This one is estimated to be 55-feet long, weighs about 75,000 pounds and is between 10 and 12 years old.